Resonance
by UKHoneyB
Summary: Berto knew he was in trouble: he had a crush on a work colleague, and work relationships seldom seemed to work out. Max/Berto relationship exploration, rated for suggestive themes.
1. Chapter 1

Well, my muse is kind of back, and to celebrate here's a fic for Akili. In my head-canon (to borrow a phrase from Julia), this takes place halfway through my season three - the season one finale is my season two finale, and Kat becomes Max's full-time partner at the beginning of season three. There's quite a few allusions to what I'm planning, although some slight spoilers for the end of season one and beginning of season two (which, to be honest, you won't know are spoilers until I've written it -rolls eyes-)

[-]

He knew it was bad.

He knew it was _really_ bad.

He knew that the last time this had occurred, it had necessitated a major re-shuffle of INTEC's inner organization, as well as stern reprimands from the higher-ups.

He tried to reason with himself that it was okay, they weren't in the same division, thus it couldn't be considered office fraternization.

Completely ignoring the fact that he was Max's eyes and ears whenever he was on a mission.

He'd seen how Rachel had reacted when Max was on Sabre - constantly watching the screen, concern showing through her stern mask (although it did seem that only he noticed it) whenever Max was anywhere near a dangerous situation. As soon as the mission was over, she walked out with a look of relief on her face.

She'd tried to make out that she was seeing how Jake was doing, but Berto knew she was only using that as a pretence. Berto had wondered just how Rachel could sit there and watch, but having spent more time with Max, he knew exactly why.

You don't dare to watch just in case something happens, but you cannot tear yourself away just in case something happens.  
Berto knew he had to do something about the situation, but knowing was completely different to doing. He couldn't transfer - well, he could, but with the time taken up training the new ops member, it wouldn't be a quick and easy break. He couldn't hide his feelings, no matter how he tried, but he wasn't sure if he should make them known to Max. He didn't know if Max had any interest in males, and he could easily be confessing his feelings for a simple "sorry".

Berto sighed and muted the connection between him and Max. He put his elbows on the desk and held his head in his hands - no wonder Rachel had asked for a transfer rather than deal with all of this stress and uncertainty.

Berto caught the tail end of Max laughing, and glanced back up at the monitor. Max and Kat, laughing and joking about the mission they had just finished; relief that everything went well mixed with some stress relief.

"If you can't laugh at the bad, you'll never enjoy life." Max - or was it Josh - had once said. Not directly to Berto, but once, on another mission, to Rachel when she had grown frustrated at the fact that Max always came out of missions with a smile. It hadn't been one of their best missions, but the bad guys were in handcuffs, civilians were safe, and the world was no longer in danger.

Berto had tried to laugh at his situation, but he couldn't find any humor in it. He could find irony in the fact that sixty-seven percent of Max's partners had fallen for him (just what was it about him that made him so attractive); when he was partnered with Kat there was even a few bets around to see how long it would be before they became a couple, they split up, or they split up because they'd become a couple and couldn't stand seeing the other in danger.

Kat had instantly shot down that idea whenever anyone tried to ask her, and most of the bets petered off. Berto knew that there was still one bet active, although he imagined that the people who'd put money in it were growing bored with the lack of evidence.

"Heading back to base, bro."

"Roger, _hermano_." Berto took his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose, before replacing his glasses. How long had been harboring this secret crush? Certainly not before Rachel had been transferred out, but he did wonder if there was some unconscious competition which his brain had created. With Max's relationship with Rachel, who'd take a second look at an awkward, geeky lab-rat? Hell, even Kat was a better match for Max than he was - she was strong, had a sharp tongue, was willing and more than able to kick Max's butt whenever he did something wrong or hesitated because of a bad experience. Sure, they egged each other on but Kat knew exactly when to put away the jokes and wise-cracks and getdown to business.

Kat may not like it, but Jefferson was right when he said that she and Max would really complement each other. He just hoped she remembered when it was necessary to be serious, as he really did not want to see either of them dying in front of him.

Well, okay, he wouldn't see Max dying, but the warning beeps and flashes from the console would be worse than seeing it - Max's death reduced to computer read-outs and paper information.

"ETA fifteen minutes."

Berto slipped off his headset and made a decision. He was going to go down to the hanger, he was going to wait there until Hawk arrived, and hewas going to tell Max how he felt.

Okay, he wasn't going to tell Max in front of all the agents and engineers in the hanger, and he _certainly_ wasn't going to tell Max in front of Kat - he'd never hear the end of it if he did.

Of course, he had to think of a reason to get Max alone…and that made it sound like he was going to jump Max as soon as they had the smallest bit of privacy.

Tests! They were always running tests on Max (much to his annoyance) and it would be the perfect reason as Kat always took off whenever it occurred.

Berto closed his eyes and took a deep breath before walking out of the ops room. He didn't know the way down to the hanger as well as he did the route between the lab, the cafeteria, and the ops room, but he knew it well enough to not get lost in INTEC's corridor maze.

It did take him almost ten minutes to arrive as it was on the opposite end of the building, and as he did he heard Max requesting permission for a landing. Hardly any requests were denied, but it was good to get practise in.

A few minutes later Max had landed and both he and Kat had gotten out of the plane. Max did a double-take upon seeing Berto in the hanger and was about to shoot off a quick quip to Kat when he noticed the stern look upon the scientist's face.

"I'm in trouble," Max said as he walked towards Berto, concern etched on his face.

"How're your t-juice levels?" Berto asked once Max was within normal hearing range, not letting his nerves get the better of him. Act normal, all business until you get back to the ops room.

Max held up his left arm. "Holding out at around seventy percent. I'll be fine without a recharge."

Berto frowned, faking concern. "You seem to be burning through t-juice a lot more than usual."

"I am?"

"Come on," Berto said. "It might be best to run a few quick tests to see if anything's amiss."

Behind them, Kat pulled a face which Berto did his best to ignore. "Well, have fun with that, Steel," she said, giving Max a solid thump on the back before walking away. "Hopefully you'll do better on this one than your last college test."

"Hey, I think I did pretty good with only ten minutes' study time."

"Sure, Steel."

Berto and Max said nothing more as they walked out of the hanger and back towards the ops room. Max was acting slightly sullen, but Berto presumed it was more because of the prospect of testing followed by more, invasive, testing, than anything he had done.

Yet.

"All right, do your damage," Max said once he was seated in the ops room, Berto grabbing the cable which connected Max's systems to the computer.

"It should only be a quick diagnostic," Berto said, plugging the connector to Max's bio-link and firing up the testing program. "If anything's amiss, I should see it."

"Should. So, Berto, what's with the sudden awkwardness around me?"

Berto closed his eyes and mentally swore. "Awkwardness?" Berto asked, feigning innocence as he concentrated on the computer.  
"You know, acting cold. Anything we discuss now is all business. You're never concerned with small talk, how college is coming along…and you've stopped talking about your family or the latest techno-gizmo you've invented or read up about."

"I've…been busy."

"It's been a slow month for Team Steel, Berto. If anything you should have had more time to talk, but you haven't."

"I've been having some issues. You know, personally."

"Issues that you can't talk to me about? Berto, I'm your friend; if you can talk to anyone about it, surely it's me?"

"No, I can't."

Max was taken aback. "Do we really have any secrets from each other? We've known each other, what, over two years know? You've seen in toever aspect of my life…well, hopefully not _every_ aspect…"

"We have this secret now."

"Why? What's so damned important or personal that you can't tell me?"

Berto sighed. "Hypothetical question: what if you had a crush on someone and you had no idea whether they even remotely thought of you that way."

Max paused for a moment. "Is this about Jessica? I've seen the way you two act - she's over you as much as you're over her. If you can't tell that she's interested in you from that…you're blind. Well, blind_er_."

"Just because I wear glasses doesn't mean I'm blind."

"Maybe when it comes to love, yeah."

"It's not Jessica."

"Then who is it?"

"I can't tell you."

Max groaned. "Okay, if you've met someone outside of INTEC and you don't want to say, fine, but don't keep -"

"It's you."

"- trying to fob me off by saying you can't tell…huh?"

Berto winced, turning his attention back to the computer screen.

"Berto, what did you just say."

Berto didn't answer.

"_Berto_."

"Your tests don't show anything out of the ordinary. It will be a good idea to keep checking on your t-juice levels at regular intervals so we canmonitor if this was a one-off or your probes are losing charge."

"All right," Max relented, taking the sheet of paper Berto was offering. He watched as Berto put a copy of the paper in to a file before putting the file in one of the cabinets in the room.

"I probably need to head back to Del Oro; I promised Pete I'd hang out with him tonight," Max said, feeling a rush of guilt. "And, uh, for the record? I do like guys as well."


	2. Chapter 2

"Ana? It's Berto."

"Do you really think I'd not recognize my brother's voice? How are you doing?"

"I'm doing well…listen, I'm going to be going on a date in a few days and I, uh, need some advice."  
Berto winced and pulled the phone away from his ear as Ana shrieked with excitement.

"Mum! Berto's finally got a girlfriend!" Berto heard Ana calling for their mother through the phone, and he groaned. He was certainly not going to hear the end of this.

"Who's the woman?" his mother asked, Ana having apparently passed the phone to her. "Is it anyone we know?"

"No, you don't know them," Berto said. It was the truth: he wasn't going on a date with any woman they knew about.

"When are you coming back to visit? If I didn't have any pictures of you I'd forget what my own son looked like."

"You'd never forget what I look like."

"Some days, I do. You haven't visited in so long - what could be so important for work that it continually keeps you away from your family?"

"It's important."

"So you keep saying." Isabella sighed. "Well, I'll keep hoping that you'll turn up for Christmas."

"Great, guilt me."

"It's what mothers do. Speak to you soon."

"Bye."

As soon as Berto put the phone back in its cradle, he realized that he hadn't actually gotten an answer to his question. Rolling his eyes to the ceiling, he grabbed the phone again and re-dialled the number.

"Ana, you never answered my question."

[-]

Berto had asked Josh on a date, but due to not really knowing a good place to go (having spent most of his time shut in INTEC being a lab rat), the venue for the date was to be decided by Josh.

Which was why Berto raised his eyebrows when Josh, driving his car, approached one of Del Oro's gay bars, The Flamboyant Peacock.

"I didn't really take you as the type to be trolling around gay bars."

"I, uh, found it by accident," Josh said looking slightly embarrassed. "Funny story, actually - Pete had caught sight of a cute girl and decided to follow her in. He, uh, didn't realize it was a gay bar until her girlfriend threatened to, uh, and I quote 'break off your dick so you can never use it again'."

"And the name didn't tip him off?"

"Pete has two eyes, but he only sees one thing," Josh said, looking down at Berto's ass to explain his point. "Nice pants, by the way, they really show off you ass…ets."

The corner of Berto's lips twitched up before he decided that having a date in the parking lot would not be fun. Taking off his seatbelt he opened the door (Josh just jumped over the driver's side door) and began to head towards the entrance.

"Oh, just as a precaution, you might want to avoid the bathrooms," Josh quickly stated before they entered the building.

"Why?"

"Do you like being propositioned for sex by random strangers?"

"…No."

"Didn't think so. Stay out of the bathroom."

Berto heaved a sigh as Josh opened the door and walked in, holding the door open for him.

To Berto's surprise, the bar looked like any other bar he'd seen on television…although if he was going to be honest, he didn't know what to expect. Flamboyant dress and rainbows everywhere?

There were a few small groups scattered around the bar, including two hunched over a pool table with intense looks on all their faces. Most of the people were just sitting around looking like they were enjoying their time, and as Berto watched one burly man who looked to be in his mid-forties carrying a couple of drinks over to a young-looking, muscular person.

"Everyone looks like they're enjoying themselves."

"Why shouldn't they? They're here to have fun, maybe meet up with some friends and, hey, who knows," Josh said with a suggestive arch of his eyebrows. "Maybe they'll even get lucky tonight, and it won't be in a bathroom."

As they walked through the people, one person caught Berto's eye. The guy's smiled widened, and he wordlessly pointed towards Berto, and then back at himself. Startled, Berto looked around to see if there was anyone nearby who the man could be pointing at, but there wasn't.  
The guy frowned a little before repeating his action, and Berto nervously pointed towards Josh. The guy nodded, looking a little resigned, before giving Berto a short thumbs-up.

"Great," Berto said as he and Josh sat at the bar. "I'm free and single and no one wants to date me, yet as soon as I go to a gay bar with you, I've got people randomly wanting to hook up with me."

Josh smiled. "Who was it?" Berto tried to point at the guy without giving away himself, but the guy was still watching the two of them, and came sauntering over.

"Hey Joshua, you here with this guy? You finally ditched Pete?"

"Ralph, how've you been? Pete's not exactly a good friend to bring along to a gay bar."

Ralph barked a laugh. "Yeah, not the best place for a man to pick up women." He nudged Berto. "So how you know our local sports star?"

"We work together," Berto said noncommittally. "I work on the engineering projects."

"And now dating by the looks of it, eh? Have fun you guys."

"That was weird," Berto said once Ralph was out of ear-shot, and Josh grinned.

"What're you two gonna have?" the bartender said before Josh could form a reply. She quickly glanced over to Berto. "You two together?"

"Yeah, first date actually," Josh said with a slight tone of anxiousness in his voice.

"How sweet. First drink's on the house, but the second you'll have to pay for."

"Not a problem," Josh said with a smile. "Two pints of beer, please." Josh waited until she was out of earshot before muttering, "I hate being called Joshua."

"It's your name."

"Yeah, but everyone I know calls me Josh. Only Ralph calls me Joshua."

"Joshua."

"What?" Josh said, looking confused. "I was already talking to you, you don't need to try and get my attention."

"Just trying it out," Berto said. "Joshua. Josh-u-a. What's wrong with it?"

"It's just -" Josh sighed. "I dunno, it seems to personal. The only people I remember calling me Joshua are Dad and…well, Jim and Molly."

"Too personal for your boyfriend to use?"

Josh smiled. "Keep trying. Maybe I'll get used to it."

The bartender returned with their two drinks and Josh handed over some money. The two of them sat at the bar, slowly sipping their drinks in silence for a good couple of minutes before Berto broke the silence.

"Does alcohol actually have any effect on you?"

"What kind of effect?"

"You know, because of your…abilities. Does drinking have any effect?"

"It makes my mouth and throat feel weird," Josh said, taking another sip. "I assume that's the magic working."

"Does it annoy you?"

"That I can't get drunk like most of my peers? Yeah. Not that I see the appeal in getting so drunk you can't remember what you did…but I'd like to at least have the option, you know?"

The two of them fell back in to silence, finishing their drinks and casting casual eyes over the rest of the occupants of the bar. Ralph had moved on since his conversation with Josh, and a couple of women had taken the table he had been sitting at.

Josh finished off his drink quickly and set it down on the bar. "So," he said, directing the comment at Berto. "Your place or mine?"

"Uh, I don't think…I'm not sure we should…" Berto started to stammer, going bright red.

"Oh, I'm not asking for sex. Well," Josh said, leaning closer with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. "Not unless you want to."

"Your place, definitely."


	3. Chapter 3

"Are you sure this is okay with your family? I can still catch a late flight across the country…"

Berto said nothing, instead choosing to shove a packed bag at Josh. He picked up a second bag, opened the door to Josh's apartment and walked out.

"I'm just saying, there's still time for me to head to my dad's this year."

Berto dumped his bag in to the trunk before turning around to look at Josh. "We've had this settled for weeks. My family is expecting to see you. What am I going to say when I turn up on my own - that you're too ashamed to be seen with me in front of my family? You didn't worry so muchwhen you told _your_ dad."

"My dad is interestingly nonchalant about anything involving my real life - I think he's actually glad I have something outside of INTEC."

"Even if that 'something' is a partner who also works in INTEC?" Berto said with a smile, closing the trunk and walking around to the passenger side of the car. "Come on, we need to get going - our flight is scheduled to leave soon."

"All right, I'm coming."

[-]

_Casa de Martinez_ was one busy household, especially with a large number of extended family members arriving on the doorstep for the holiday season. Despite arriving a few days before the main celebrations, there was still a large number of people present, with still more expected to arrive.

Berto had tried to give Josh a run-down of all the important people to know in his family, but even with nanotech-enhanced memory, the names soon started to blend together, especially when Berto got in to the double-digits.

Instead, Berto had agreed to intercept anyone who came near, long enough for Josh to get a fix on what they looked like and, with some sly linguistic cunning, have Berto mention which family member was approaching them.

Stepping up towards the door, Josh rang the doorbell before Berto could find his keys, the latter giving an amused shake of the head.

"Josh, you're family. Family doesn't ring the doorbell - they walk straight in and hope they're not interrupting anything."

"And I've been raised in a family where everyone rings the doorbell, related or not." Josh picked up the sound of someone running towards the door, and a moment later a boy of about eight opened the door.

"Mama!" the boy said, turning around to shout in to the house. "_Uncle Martinez is here!_" Turning back to look at the two newest guests, the boy backed away from the door to let them in, and his eyes grew wide when he saw Josh.

"Uh, I should probably warn you -" Berto started to say.

"_Why didn't you say you were bringing Josh McGrath!_" the boy said in delight, grabbing Josh's hand and pulling him in to the house. "Stay there," he said, switching to English before dashing back in to the house.

"I take it he's a fan."

"That might be a slight understatement. He's probably gone to get one of his numerous posters or some such for you to sign."

[-]

When Isabella Martinez had finally gotten around to greeting her son and Josh (hindered slightly by Emilio grabbing anything signable and making Josh sign it), she didn't bat an eyelash over the fact that her son had brought a male friend with him.

Either she didn't know about their situation, or she didn't care.

After a quick greeting they were ushered in to the living room where the rest of Berto's siblings (all girls, all older: Inéz, Ana, Marisol, Lucia and Juliana) were, and required Josh to go through another round of greetings. Emilio, he found out, was Marisol's son, and a very enthusiastic Josh McGrath fan - Marisol had joked that he'd already made her son's Christmas by turning up.

Isabella reappeared about an hour later, rapidly explaining to Berto where he and Josh would be staying - Berto was being put up with a couple of his cousins, while Josh was given the smallest bedroom (which in all honesty was a multi-purpose room with a bed shoved in for the holiday season), leading more credit to the thought that Isabella though of them as friends.

However, a discussion over Christmas dinner proved them wrong.

[-]

"You two could at least give me some credit," Isabella randomly stated in the middle of Christmas dinner, eying up both Josh and Berto. "We didn't put you in separate rooms to keep you apart, even though it looks like it, but I can tell that you've been sneaking around at night. Goodness knows how you manage to do anything in that tiny little room Josh is in, but when you're desperate enough, you can do anything. Or, flexible enough."

Josh and Berto gave each other sideways glances, both trying to figure out what Isabella was talking about. Across the table, yet another one of Berto's cousins started to flush, drawing the attention to her.

"Oh, Célia," Isabella said, shaking her head but with a smile on her face. "You're too young to make me a great-grandmother just yet. At least when the time comes I won't be wanting for great-grandchildren…and maybe some more grandchildren, too," she added with a meaningful look at Josh and Berto.

"Uh, Berto?" Josh whispered to Berto. "Is there something about the nanoprobes that I should know about? You know, super-strength, infra-red vision, ability to make me pregnant?"

Berto tried to cover up his laughter with a cough, but it wasn't good enough to avoid detection.

"Oh yes," Isabella said. "You two don't get out of being pestered about children just because you're both male. You still have plenty of options - what about that nice girl you work with, Jessica? I'm sure if you asked she'd consider being a surrogate for you."

The conversation slowly edged over to talking about the products of conception rather than the acts of, diverting attention from both Berto and Josh, and Célia.

"I have never know anyone's mother to be that frank about sex," Josh had muttered later that night, making Berto grin.

"She's not shy about it - after all, she states that if it wasn't for sex, where did all of us come from."

"Does she really expect kids from us?"

"Of course."

"Are you willing to give her some?"

"I'm uncertain," Berto said. "We - well, more you - face risks much higher than anyone else does. The average age of death for an INTEC agent is thirty-seven, but there's nothing to say you'd die on your next mission, nanoprobes or not."

"Most people don't have issues with it."

"Most people don't have an inter-office relationship. Barring unfortunate events, if the agent parent dies, you're still likely to have the non-agent parent around. We don't have that luxury that I'll be around if you're not - your father's death -"

"And my accident."

"Proves that INTEC is not impenetrable." Berto sighed. "We don't have to think about this right now, anyway. We've got at least ten years to consider our options."

"Oh, lovely, ten years of Mama Martinez asking us why we haven't given her grandchildren yet," Josh joked, attempting to lighten the mood.

"Hey, if I have to deal with Jefferson as a father-in-law, you can deal with my mother."

"Good _night_, Berto," Josh said firmly, but with a smile still on his face. "I'll try and avoid drawing your mother's attention tomorrow." Josh took

Berto's hand and gave it a quick squeeze.

"If you can do that without being invisible, I'll be very impressed."

"Well, either that or we sneak out and get some alone time in," Josh said suggestively, and Berto sighed in amusement.

"Do you ever think about anything else?"

"Hey, I'm a guy."

"So am I."


End file.
